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PDF files are hard to edit because they aren’t meant to be edited! While there are many solutions that enable a user to make changes to a PDF to some degree, they all suffer from weaknesses in one way or another.

Let’s dig deeper into why this is the case.

Editing objects directly requires desktop software

Unfortunately, there’s no getting around this one – if you want to edit objects inside a PDF directly, you need desktop software. Today, most browsers are not powerful enough to enable direct editing of a PDF inside the browser. While this is certain to change in the future, unfortunately this isn’t the case today.

As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, desktop programs suffer from a range of issues: (1) they are expensive, (2) difficult to use and (3) tend to suffer from quite a few bugs. As of today, there is no good and cheap (or free) alternative to purchasing a premium desktop PDF program. If you have short-term needs, most desktop products offer a time-limited trial that may be good enough.

But desktop software isn’t perfect either

If the creator of a PDF file does not want the file to be edited, they are likely to “flatten” the PDF file (or place all objects onto a single layer). This can be achieved by flattening a PDF using a software tool such as Adobe Acrobat or creating a PDF file from another format (such as an image file). In practice, the majority of PDF files today are on a single layer.

A flattened PDF is much more difficult to edit, as desktop PDF software cannot differentiate between different objects in a file. Thus trying to edit one object (a particular sentence or even something simple like adding a signature, for example) may impact all the other objects in the PDF. Trying to edit a PDF can thus get frustrating very quickly. Very few PDF software programs are good enough to manage this issue.

So while desktop PDF software may seem like the only solution for editing a PDF file – the reality is more nuanced. Leaving aside the high cost, very few software programs even make the cut.

So how do online PDF editors work?

Online PDF editors work by virtually printing objects on top of an existing PDF. While they cannot directly edit objects, they enable users to complete many common tasks such as filling out a PDF form, making small changes (usually by erasing and then adding objects) or adding notes and highlights to a document. Online editors can also help with tasks like merging, rotating or deleting pages from a PDF. Many online PDF editors, such as PDF Pro, also have freemium pricing plans. This allows a large number of users to get their work done for free!

The drawback to using an online editor is obvious: by only allowing a user to edit a file by making changes on top of a PDF, the solution doesn’t make sense for making extensive edits. This is especially true for users that need to make a lot of text edits.

What about converting a PDF to Word? And then converting it back to PDF?

Given everything we’ve learned, it may seem that the most intuitive solution to edit a PDF file is to convert it into an editable format, such as Word. Once a PDF file is converted to Word, editing the file should be relatively straightforward – right? It sounds like a good starting theory.

In practice, converting PDF to Word has many issues as most PDF files don’t contain any underlying structure. Building blocks such as headers, footers, paragraphs, columns, and tables keep elements in a Word file in place. Once a Word file is converted to PDF – that’s all gone. This makes converting a PDF file to Word fairly challenging. “Reading” a PDF file correctly and then converting it into Word is a very difficult computer science problem. Very few PDF to Word converters can handle this challenge.

PDFs will never be easy to edit, and that’s by design

As you can probably guess by now, editing a PDF file will always be a pain. There is no true one-size-fits-all solution today that fully addresses the problem of editing a PDF file.

At PDF Pro, I’m working to deliver the best online solution by offering an online PDF editor as well as an upcoming online PDF to Word converter. By offering users a wide range of freemium online PDF solutions, I’m certain that PDF Pro can meet the needs of most users. Stay tuned!